Onion Baked Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken in our house so I'm always on the hunt for new ways to cook it. We've had it baked, fried, roasted, etc. You name it, we've tried it. Here is a new recipe we tried recently that was a big hit even as leftovers!

Ingredients 

1 package dry onion soup mix

1 cup panko bread crumbs

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Directions 

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine the soup mix and panko in a mixing bowl; set aside. 

Line a baking sheet with foil. 

Coat the chicken breasts all over with mayonnaise, then press into the panko mixture. 

Place the chicken on the baking sheet. 

Cook the chicken until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 25 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Friday's Letters [03.30]

It's another fabulous Friday to link up with Adventures of Newlyweds!

Dear kidneys, My sincerest apologies about this past weekend. Three days of junk food and beer can take a toll on anyone, but y'all hung in there like champs! I promise to take better care of you in the coming weeks and months if you promise to continue doing your thang and being healthy. Deal?

Dear Spring Break, Welcome! I am so happy to have you here to visit for the next week. I am excited to enjoy you with lots of sleeping and reading. The few days in Charleston will be the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. Many thanks for finally showing up!

Dear weeds, As satisfying as it is to see our yard go from weed wasteland to grassy plane, I am getting really tired of devoting hours each day to your demise. Not to mention, the fact that I've become immune to picking up slimy worms and rolly polly bugs is a little far. How about you go away and never come back? Appreciate it.

Dear M&M cookies, Whyyyyyyy do you have to be so delicious?? My bathing suit (and every other item of clothing, really) do not appreciate your deliciousness as much as my taste buds do.

Dear Daisy Dukes, You never fail to keep me in fits of laughter with your bizarre habits. For example, your deathly fear of school buses is ridiculous. The fact that you could care less who s in your way and you run as fast as you can away from it is hysterical. I promise that big yellow monster won't hurt you.

Dear Amazon, Hurry up and deliver my books! To say I'm excited to re-read The Hunger Games series is an understatement. I'm also in the process of trying to convince my husband this is a good idea as well. . .

Thankful Thursday-Time Is Love

Time is love, gotta run,
Love to hang longer,
But I got someone who waits,
Waits for me and right now
She's where I need to be,
Time is love, gotta run.

-Josh Turner

Spring Break

After MUCH waiting and anticipation, it has finally arrived!

my husband

I am continually in awe of how hard he works for our little family. Not to mention all the sacrifices he makes for us!

the kitchen

I am very thankful for the opportunity to cook and bake whatever my heart desires. It is such a calming experience for me and I love trying out new recipes! If you have any good ones, send 'em my way:-)

co-workers

For anyone who has ever worked with a challenging co-worker, you know how wonderful it is to have -good ones. I am very thankful for my work family who continues to support me and help me in any way that they can.

our pup

She is such a sweet companion to have! For those of you without a dog to welcome you home with dances and love, I'm sorry. Make this a part of your life.

time

I am SUPER excited about having some time to relax over the next week. Time to read, time to sleep, time to run, time to tan, time to blog, time to pray, time to visit, just time to be!

crop share

We just turned in our money for the next season of our half share and I am stoked! Yay for fresh fruits and veggies again!

What are you thankful for today??

30 Before 30-Blogging Daily

At the beginning of the year I created a "bucket list" of sorts. This is my 30 Before 30 list. It includes a hot mess of random things I want to accomplish before I am 30. As is often the case with bucket lists, you start off pretty gung-ho about things. The goal becomes not to do them all before 30, but to do them as soon as possible. One of the goals I set for myself was to blog daily for a month. I figured this wouldn't be too difficult of a task since I love sharing my adventures.

I started trying to keep up with this soon after I published my list. Then, life got in the way (as it so often does) and I missed a few days. No biggie; I'll just start over. So from mid-February until last weekend I had kept up with the blog by posting every day-wahoooooo!

My hubby teased me and said that while I couldn't see to find the time to finish folding the laundry, I was somehow able to find the time to write a post or two. Why is that, you may ask. . . because it's fun! It such a great outlet for me to write about everything that is going on in my life. I love having the opportunity to share the ins and outs. The fact that people read it is a bonus! It never gets old for me to hear from someone that they read my blog. What an honor!

Now that I'm in the habit I hope to keep up with my regular posts. I can't promise it will be everyday because it is nice to just shut down technology once in a while, but I hope to keep up with it fairly regularly.

To my sweet hubby. . .

Truth

Weekend Warriors Part 2

The weekend was so jam packed, I had to split the posts! We kicked Saturday morning off with a city-wide volunteer event called "What If Everyone". The concept is, what if everyone served their community in some way? How neat is that?! David and our friends, Brian and Ginny, decided to help clean up some at North Mecklenburg HS. The theater teacher needed help painting her so we all pitched in and painted. I wouldn't exactly say that I agree with her paint color of choice, but to each his own!

The lovely Easter egg pink/purple

Ginny Q getting her paint on

Brian attacking the walls with some pink

The most intense part was the tearing down of the sectional wall. It was one of those acordian-like doors. What made this one unique was the fact that it had been there since the school was built, in the 1970's! After much sawing and cutting the men finally got it down. Then came the fun part of putting it in the truck. This thing weighed close to 500 lbs, but after much heaving and hoeing they finally got it outside and into the truck. Many props to them!

The vicious wall on the ground

Looking at their handy work. Good job, fellas!

That afternoon David and our wonderful neighbor, Jeff, took on the ceiling fan. I am so grateful for Jeff coming over to help David get this honker hung up! Cool air will be in our house tonight:-) Then we met my fabulous in-laws to watch Florida take on Louisville. While the game didn't have the outcome we were hoping for, it was still fun to watch them play and to visit.

The mess. . .

It works!

Sunday began with another awesome morning at church. While I wasn't able to go into service, I was able to love on some of the sweetest babies in the Nursery. I just love having the opportunity to play with these kids! That afternoon we were back at it in the yard. Four hours of pulling weeds and forty-seven bags of mulch later our yard is on the fast-track to looking good! David has done a stellar job of rehabbing our pitiful yard. When we moved in our grass was dead. Not such a great way to start. After much time and TLC, it is much greener and there are significant less weeds than before. The flowers did not have a very pleasant "re-homing" experience, though. Turns out I don't have quite the green thumb I was hoping for. . . I'll be ecstatic if they last!

It's a work in progress, but we're getting there!

My little flowers

That evening I got to meet our sweet friends' adorable new baby boy. Have you ever held a one-week old. If not, make it a part of your life. What a sweet reminder of the preciousness of life! Momma joined us for later supper and the Kansas/Carolina game. It was an exhausting weekend, but it was wonderful. I loved the opportunity to see family and friends, and soak in this great season of life.

Weekend Warriors

Happy Monday one and all! I've been a bit MIA this past weekend. My sincerest apologies. I know y'all are on the edge of your seats waiting for the latest updates on the exciting events in the Mobleys lives. Without further adieu, a recap of a ridiculously busy yet ridiculously wonderful weekend. . .

For those of you living in caves you may have missed the excitement surrounding the Hunger Games movie. For everyone else, what did you think?!? I dragged my poor husband to see it on Friday afternoon after fighting the temptation to see the midnight showing. It was well worth the wait! I'm always a book before movie kind of gal so I knew what to expect. David is more of the "why read the book if I can watch the movie" crowd. The good news is both of us liked it, so that tells you it was a pretty good movie. Seeing it made me want to re-read all the books over Spring Break!

Maple Sugar Coffee. . . nom nom nom

"Too many choices! What would Gordon say??"

Friday continued with a super exciting trip to Lowes in search of a few things for the house. I remember doing yard work with my parents growing up, but I do not remember doing this much! It felt like all we did this weekend was work on house stuff on and off. It was super rewarding, but super time consuming! We left Lowes with a trimmer/edger, some smaller garden tools, and a new ceiling fan!

So many choices!

That evening we headed to our friend Scott's house to watch the Wolfpack take on Kansas. It was a mish mash of food and fun while we waited. Some of the best times are had just hanging around a set of cornhole boards. When the game finally started (believe it or not, I actually stayed up for part of it) we were all pumped to see the Wolfpack pull off another win. I wore my lucky dress and everything! I suppose it just wasn't in the cards. I am excited they made it as far as they did! My husband claims it's the non-competitor in me that is OK with losing, but I'm proud that grew as much as they did from last year. GO PACK!

Corn hole!

My "lucky" dress

Those pups wanted a bite of steak if it killed them. . .

More weekend details to come tomorrow!

Friday's Letters [03.23]

It's another Friday with Adventures of Newlyweds!

Dear Peeps, I cannot express how excited I was to see you in stores again! You are your friends, the Cadbury Eggs, make me a very happy girl. I know I can find other colors and shapes year around, but it's just not the same as the pastel chicks at Easter. I have limited myself to only 5 delicious little chickies a day to get you to last longer. I'm already looking forward to scouting the stores the day after Easter to find you all on clearance!

Dear Spring Break, So close, yet so far. The students and I are anxiously awaiting your arrival and counting down the days until we have a break from each other. The fact that David and I have a brief trip to Charleston planned for the tail end of it makes your impending arrival even harder to wait for. Let's see what you can do about arriving a smidgen bit earlier. K, thanks.

Dear pollen, You have officially overstayed your welcome. You are not welcome here. Your attack of the Dr. Seuss tree is unacceptable and you are ruining our evening suppers outside. Not to mention your presence on my green car makes for a rainbow of yuck. Please go away.

Dear NC State, What is up with this winning? Don't get me wrong, I am completely stoked about it, just a bit surprised. Never fear though, fellas, I will be wearing the dress again today. It brought us luck last Friday and then again this past Sunday. Let's cross our fingers it works its magic again!

Dear mosquitoes, Why in heaven's name am I already killing many of your compadres? It is March!! You are making it very difficult for me to sit outside and enjoy the beautimus Spring weather that Mother Nature has graced us with. How about y'all just vamoosh for a few more months and come back in the summer? Or, or, an even better idea-don't come back at all!

Dear Hunger Games movie, Oh how I cannot wait to see you! I have high hopes for you and your fellow films, please do not disappoint! May the odds be ever in your favor. . .

Thankful Thursday-Another Day in Paradise

Well, it's OK. It's so nice
It's just another day in paradise
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the Lord every night
For just another day in paradise

-Phil Vassar

caffeine

Holy canoli, am I thankful for caffeine. If it weren't for coffee and tea I would probably fall asleep mid-sentence. If anyone figures out a way to get a caffeine drip through an IV, let me know.

blogging support

I am very grateful for all the support my readers have shown me! Everything from the kind comments about my 5K to the well-wishes and prayers when I was sick. It is an amazing feeling to know so many people care about you!

church family

We are immensely blessed by our incredible church family. These people are an incredible addition to our lives!

music

It's amazing how a good song can turn your mood around on a rough day!

my incredible hubby

Despite the craziness in his own life he always does whatever he can to make mine easier. The other night I was at school for over 12 hours, so you can imagine how tired I was. That sweet boy had supper ready and the dog tuckered out without me having to ask. He is wonderful!

What are you thankful for today??

Spring Means. . .

It is officially Spring-HOORAY!! Words cannot express how truly over the moon I am by this little change. Y'all have heard me whine before about how much I do not like to be cold and how low winter ranks on my scale of likes and dislikes. We've been fortunate this winter that it hasn't gotten too too cold. The added bonus of David being here and not in Alabama always helped make it bearable. But that doesn't mean I'm not totally stoked for Spring! Here are a few things that Spring means for me:

Spring means. . .

 flip flops!

 Spring means. . .

bright colors!

Spring means. . .

warmer temps and more time outside!

Spring means. . .

a break!

Spring means. . . 

Summer is almost here!

Spring means. . .

 Easter!

Spring means. . .

sundresses!

What do you like most about Spring?

Snickerdoodle Bars

My sweet friend Kelley was coming over for supper and I knew we had to have a fabulous sweet treat to finish the evening. Where did I turn? Pinterest, of course! This was super easy and very easy-I was able to make it with everything I already had in the pantry! I even took some in to school the next day and they got the nod of approval. Let me know what y'all think!

Ingredients

Cake

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla 

Cinnamon Filling

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon 

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla

 

Directions

  Heat oven to 350F. 

Spray or grease bottom only of a 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. 

In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on high speed until creamy. 

 Beat in sugars. 

Gradually beat in eggs and vanilla into sugar mixture until combined. 

On low speed, beat in dry ingredients until combined.

Spoon half the batter into pan; spread evenly. 

Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over batter. 

Dollop teaspoon size amounts of remaining batter evenly over cinnamon-sugar mixture.  

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool completely, about 1 hour. 

In small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. 

Drizzle over bars. 

Enjoy!

All the fixins 

 Dry ingredients

 Butter, eggs, vanilla, and sugar mixture

 Cinnamon sugar mixture

 Dolloped and heading into the oven

 All done, just waiting for the glaze!

Bits of Splendor Monday [03.19]

Happy Monday one and all! I am linking up with wonderful Laura for another Bits of Splendor Monday.

Today's link-up coincides perfectly with this past weekend's St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Don't you just love how that works out:-) I've always loved any holidays, no matter how big or small, but St. Patrick's Day remains one of my favorites. I'm not particularly sure why. Perhaps it's my Irish heritage (I do have blonde and practically see-thru pale skin) or it's the fact that everyone wears green to celebrate (my favorite color!). Who knows the real reason, the fact of the matter is I love it!

We celebrated by heading to our new local favorite, Afton Tavern, with a few friends. This was one of those stellar times when new friends meet old friends and everyone gets along famously. Hooray! We all settled in for mugs of green beer, deliciously greasy food (I did run that morning. . .), and a few good basketball games. A few pictures from the night:

Festive brews!

Our only picture from the evening.

The pretty flowers behind me

Brian listening intently to Scott

Scott returning the favor and listening intently to Brian

The stellar set-up!

David decided to be anti-social that evening

It was a marvelous time of relaxing and enjoying the many blessings God have bestowed upon us! Where are you finding bits of splendor in your life?

Kickin' Some 5K Booty!

Well, folks, I did it. I ran my first ever 5K! Let me just take a quick minute to celebrate- wahoooooooooooooooo! About a year ago I got into running. I started on a treadmill at our apartment complex's gym. When we moved to the house and I didn't have the treadmill anymore it dawned on me how much I enjoyed, and now missed, running. My sweet husband recognized this and used his Craigslist sleuthing skills to find me a used treadmill. With the kidney revolt it was put on hiatus for a while. When I finally got the go ahead from my doc I laced up my shoes and hit the treadmill again!

With the new year I made a set of goals for myself to accomplish before I turned 30. One of them was to run an entire 5K. Now, I've walked quite a few in my day, but never run one. I starting my own version of training and began scouring the internet for a local race I wanted to support. Many 5K's are run in support/honor of a cause or a person, so I wanted to my first full one to be a cause I was interested in.

About a month ago someone I went to high school with posted about a 5K taking place in my hometown (about 10 minutes down the road from where I live now). This was the Angels of '97 5K. This is an organization very near and dear to my heart. It was started to honor five students from a local high school who all passed away before their graduation in 1997. The organization now honors other local teens who passed away before their time. The 5K, along with a silent auction and all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner, race money to fund scholarships for teens at the local high schools. In fact I earned one when I graduated in 2006! I couldn't imagine a more perfect race to be my first:-)

I woke up early Saturday morning a ball full of nerves. I'm still not exactly sure why I was freaking out so much. It's not like this was my first time ever running. Regardless, I grabbed something to eat and was out the door. I was about ten minutes down the road when I realized I forgot my headphones. Mother of pearl. There was no way this thing was happening without some musical motivation, so I turned the car around.

This set me back in time, which I had so carefully plotted out. I had it in my mind that I would get there with 30 minutes to spare to pick up my race day packet, stretch, and get in the zone (hey, I've warned y'all from the beginning I'm too Type-A for my own good). Fat chance that was going to happen now.

Anywho, I arrived with just enough time to grab my packet and head up to the starting line. I turned on my running playlist and got ready for the start. A few minutes later we were off! It was a great run and aside from the hill in the first mile I felt awesome! It didn't hurt that I had this cute kid as my leader:

About halfway through I realized that I was definitely going to be able to run the whole thing. That momentum was enough to help me pick up the pace until the end. My final mile pace was 8:10 and my final time was 25:23. WAHOOOOOOOOO! I finished first in my age group and 32nd overall. I still cannot believe it. God truly pushed me to keep going and it showed in the end.

Will I be doing this again? Heck yes. I'm already on the hunt for another! If you know of a good one in the Charlotte area, let me know!

Guest Bloggers Needed!

Good morning one and all! I hope you are reading this much later than I am actually writing it. No one should be awake this early on a Saturday morning. True story. The reason for my presence on the internet at this tortuous hour? My first 5K! Eeek! I couldn't sleep so I hopped out of bed and decided to be semi-productive. One a Type-A personality, always a Type-A personality. . .

Anywho, the real reason for this post is I am in need of a few fabulous guest bloggers! One of the greatest parts of my profession is the few days off they give us to celebrate the glorious Spring weather. The hubs will be in Alabama the first few days (more to come on that fiasco later) so I will be enjoying a bit of a staycation, aka you're stuck with me. Then, upon his return we will be making our way south for a few days in hope of some R&R in my most favorite city of all time-Charleston, SC!

If you're interested in helping this girl out, please email/comment below and I'll get back to you! Until then, Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

thanks, Pinterest for your continued brilliance.

Friday's Letters [03.16]

Happy Friday readers! Today I am linking up again with the fabulous Ashley over at Adventures of Newlyweds for another edition of Friday's Letters!

Dear gigantor spider, I did not appreciate walking into the bathroom yesterday morning to do my hair and find you hanging out in my toilet. You caused me to scream so loud I'm still surprised I didn't wake the 'hood. I must let you know that I did appreciate your hiding spot for the fact that it made disposing of you very easy.

Dear 5K, Please do not kick my butt tomorrow. I've encountered others of your kind before, but never with the plans of actually running. I would really like it if you were easy on me and let me finish is a reasonable time. Is that so much to ask??

Dear festive gel clings, Oh, how I adore you. I always love when you appear in the Target "One Spot"for the appropriate season. I'm sorry for some of the hurtful things David said to you. You're not stupid or a waste of money. Never fear, I will continue to plunk down my dollar proudly for each season as long as you are around.

Dear Daisy, Why are you such a wuss? Your attempts at ferociousness are quite precious. I know that buses (and UPS trucks and generally anything loud) can be scary, but is tripping me while running a very nice way of expressing your fear? I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed seeing my sprawled out on the sidewalk, but I would appreciate some warning before you lose your mind. K, thanks.


Dear Wolfpack, How about a win today? I would love it if y'all could do your thing and rock the socks of San Diego State. If not I'm going to look pretty silly having worn this ensemble to school today: